Melbourne uni agrees to preserve data in music download case

The University of Melbourne today agreed to preserve computer data which record companies claim would prove students illegally downloaded music over the internet, a court heard.

Sony, EMI and Universal last week attempted to get an interlocutory order in the Federal Court in Sydney to force the University of Melbourne to grant them access to student email accounts.

The record companies claim they need to prove the recordings were transmitted via the link on the web pages and could only do this by tracking emails to the sites.

The interlocutory order application also originally applied to the University of Sydney and the University of Tasmania, but both have since agreed to preserve the computer data until a judge decides whether the universities should grant the record companies access.

Today in the Federal Court the University of Melbourne also agreed to preserve the data until the court made a decision about access.
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"We've come to an interim arrangement," counsel for the record companies, Tony Bannon, SC, told the court.

The court was told earlier the record companies had evidence of two University of Melbourne student web pages with links to sites where recordings could be downloaded.

The record companies are claiming the students breached copyright laws by setting up web pages with links to the sites where recordings could be downloaded.

The hearing against the three universities was adjourned until March 17.